2023 starting midfield

[Powerage]

I'd be playing a back 6 of Jonas, Aliir, McCallum, Burton, Houston and Burgoyne and then having Houston push up into the midfield as that defensive midfielder, with Byrne-Jones coming off the bench to support Houston/Burton/Burgoyne. I'd have Bergman and Duursma on the wings folding back into defence. Not sure who I'd have as support here - Sinn would be the best choice so hopefully he's fit and firing.

In the middle I'd start with Wines, Boak and Rozee, rotating with Powell-Pepper, Horne-Francis and Butters who I'd be playing in the forward line. The other general forward spot I'd give to Rioli, with Fantasia on the bench. Key forwards would be Dixon, Marshall and Georgiades. Finlayson would be my plug and play key position utility that gives any key position player (including ruck) a rest when needed. Speaking or ruck, that goes to Lycett.

Last spot would go to Farrell.

Finlayson is an interesting one. He came here as a leading/opportunist forward who could ruck a bit. I think last year he showed he could really play a variety of positions. He got clearances, he is good below his knees and has good disposal. He strikes me as our new Westhoff, without the aerial skills, but more physical at ground level. Don't think he could play wing though.

I know a lot of people want to see him in defense but I don't think he is good enough one on one. He might be able to play as a floating tall back there which would relieve the pressure on the other tall defenders. It will be interesting to see how he is used other than as a second ruck (God forbid he is used as the main ruck).

He may end up as a permanent forward once Dixon goes.

 

[Bevoman]

Finlayson is an interesting one. He came here as a leading/opportunist forward who could ruck a bit. I think last year he showed he could really play a variety of positions. He got clearances, he is good below his knees and has good disposal. He strikes me as our new Westhoff, without the aerial skills, but more physical at ground level. Don't think he could play wing though.

I know a lot of people want to see him in defense but I don't think he is good enough one on one. He might be able to play as a floating tall back there which would relieve the pressure on the other tall defenders. It will be interesting to see how he is used other than as a second ruck (God forbid he is used as the main ruck).

He may end up as a permanent forward once Dixon goes.

I hope we play Finlayson on the wing and copy the Geelong model, where after the bounce, Blicavs takes over and roams about as their mobile ruck

 

[Powerage]

I hope we play Finlayson on the wing and copy the Geelong model, where after the bounce, Blicavs takes over and roams about as their mobile ruck

When I said he probably couldn't play there, I really meant there are others who are more suited to the role. Dursma and Bergman, possibly Sinn were the main ones that spring to mind. I think Dixon is a pretty good ruck up forward, again following the Geelong model with Hawkins. If he does roam around I'd like to see him take the defensive ruck and see if he can take on the role of a floating tall defender. With his build, he could be very valuable back there.

 

[robbo1981]

I hope we play Finlayson on the wing and copy the Geelong model, where after the bounce, Blicavs takes over and roams about as their mobile ruck

Start at HFF then play that role I reckon would be the go.

 

[Powerage]

Start at HFF then play that role I reckon would be the go.

They should call that position the graveyard. Still he has got the attributes.

I just think he has got the build to play in a height/weight starved back line. But he is a proven forward who can ruck.

 

[philthy05]

Let’s look at our options (in no particular order)

Boak wines rozee drew butters Spp duursma Bergman Farrell sinn jhf dumont bonner Houston mead jones

Boak - aging star who showed his age last year. Last year he looked very much to have slipped a little and while still having good numbers he lost a step and everything he did lacked the polish and impact he used to have. Looked rushed. Still such is the level he’s coming from that a slipping and declining boak is still a high level leader and will continue to feature as a main player in our mid unit.

We looked to try to give boak a backseat last year to developing younger mids and I expect that to continue.

Will still have a role switching between on-ball, the wing and half forward, but I can see him being moved out of the centre for periods of time while we give time to others, and I think that’s a good move.

Wines - key on-baller who has become an elite gut running mid of the comp. Expect him to be a key centrepiece of our midfield next year.


Rozee - star. I called for his move into the midfield because we needed a guy who can extract the ball out of clearances and run it out rather than shuffling the ball around to other stationary blokes and that’s what he brought.

Should and will be given the go ahead to be a starting midfielder playing in the centre square.

Will attract massive attention from teams this year.

Drew - posters here are completely underrating drew when they write him off as not a starting mid or not good enough.

But posters who say he will not or may not make our starting 22 have a real case.

he’s one of the best defensive mids in the league. He has some of the cleanest hands in our team. He has real x factor in terms of quality of touches around contests and impact with defensive efforts. Posters who call him vanilla or bland aren’t paying attention.

We were reliant on him adding to our clearances last year.

Saying all that, we’ve simply got a certain amount of midfielders and someone can easily miss out. Yes drew can play other positions, posters claiming he can’t have not seen enough of him, but can he play second positions better than players we have that can play around the ground? No.

Drew in all likelihood doesn’t make our starting 22 unless one of wines , boak, jhf , rozee or butters is out, which is entirely possible one or more miss games next year. Or if we don’t think butters body is ready and want to hide him another year forward and think jhf should spend a lot of time forward too then there’s room for drew, in fact we should play drew if that’s the case. But if we’re wanting jhf to get genuine mid minutes and butters as well drew is a tough sell.

He could easily still play games next year. And there’s every chance he could still be developing, while he’s going on 24ish years old (off the top of my head) he missed a lot of footy to start with and has been improving year on year.

He’s also important going forward as beyond wines we don’t have an in and under ball winner with size.

If drew does show signs of adding to his game we should prioritise showing him that even if games are scarce in 2023, that there’s a future for him beyond that and get at least 8+ games when we can.

Butters - is one of the elite young mids of the competition. I can’t stress enough how much he has already proven he is an elite afl midfielder. His ground ball winning ability is second to none. The only problem has been injuries and that small frame copping a banging from the rigours of how physical he plays.

In an ideal world butters plays as a starting on-baller next year. In reality we have to realise we need to protect him from himself, allow him time to build up his body. I imagine he switches between forward and midfield next year and how much time he spends in the centre depends on his health. But the long term goal is for butters to be a full time centre square mid who sneaks or rests forward.

Spp - has shown real on-baller potential, but came of age as a hff last year. I always like his potential to move into the centre in the future but can’t see him changing his role next year and think he will continue to play the hff role next season. Don’t see him getting much in the way of actual midfield minutes, instead playing as an extra mid in the forward half like last year.

Duursma - disappointing season last year, never really recovered from a run of injuries and bounced between sanfl and afl. Confusion over his best position in the afl. Those calling for him to be an inside mid / onballer simply because he’s a taller player.. are just wrong. He’s a courageous player, but that doesn’t make you an on-baller. What he is , is a gut running mid who can cover ground, run and carry and never take his eyes off the ball even when contact is coming.

Should be training to run marathons this off-season as if he’s Tom Scully (the melb/gws Scully) and given the green light to run the wings.

No Amon, Farrell maybe moving to hbf ? Who knows where Bonner will play? Duursma should be strongly considered as a first choice wingman in our 22.

Bergman - tough year coming back from an illness. Has really shown signs playing in different roles. As a hbf he is a great all rounder who can intercept, tackle, kick long, read the play. Could easily turn into an all-aus hbf. But has also shown signs on the wing with his running and long kicking, and has had his moments on ball as well. He’s already big enough that we should not be shy about playing him on ball.

I have no idea where the club wants him in the future, but there’s every reason to like him as a wingman who can rotate onto the flank or go onball at times.

Farrell - showed genuine improvement last year and looked every bit a promising hbf when moved there. One of the best kicks in the league.

Where is his best position? Where does the club want him to play next year? I don’t know the answer to any of these questions.

I do know that he’s a strong option to play as a wingman who can go to the hbf, or a hbf who can move to the wing.

Sinn - quality prospect with elite athletic qualities and midfield prospects.

Having said that there’s no reason to rush him. Could he play as a starting mid on the wing next season? Possibly. Has the talent for it. But do we need him to?

Next year should be a building year for Josh. He has attributes to make it as a dashing hbf, running wingman or as an elite clearance mid. Needs to get that body right and there’s zero need to rush him.

My hope is that he develops as a dashing wingman / on-baller next to rozee butters jhf and Bergman. All in good time.

Jhf - great addition to our team and midfield. Macca19 pointed out that Jason was having a fine year in the midfield until the Roos curtailed his onballer minutes and he dropped away a bit. I’ve said that Jason hasn’t yet fully developed his winning the ball on the spread / outside the contest game but he’s great around contests and that’s where we should look to have him. On ball as much as is sensible with his developing body. And of course the developing body thing has to be a consideration. Can impact in the forward line so can see him going forward a bit but genuinely should get good onball minutes.

Dumont - filled gaps admirably last season as a utility. Should be leading our magpies in the midfield next year, putting pressure on anyone out of form.

Bonner - was tried elsewhere a bit and showed some real signs. Will he play as a defender next year? Who knows. I do really like him as an option to play as a wingman but also, if duursma sinn Bergman and Farrell are in form why not develop younger more promising players there? Especially when we don’t know bonners future since the club is reportedly open to him going elsewhere and he’s a free agent next offseason.

Houston - look, I know we’ve tried him there with some success, and some want him to play there, but we’ve got so many onballers with real weapons why would we play Houston there? Yeah his kicking is a weapon, but every other aspect of his midfield game is more bland. Can already impact with his kicking coming off hbf, I feel we lose more than we gain by playing him in the middle.

I think that experiment is over. As a hbf he does work up the ground a bit anyway.

Mead - was pretty far back in the midfield depth chart and even future back now.

I think while you could play him outside the centre, he just doesn’t offer enough in those positions to not be a big downgrade on specialists in those positions ie forwards like rioli Fantasia spp or genuine backs etc. his best position is centre square onballer and he’s miles away barring a massive leap next year.

Jones - people keep calling for him to become a midfielder and I wish they watched him instead of looking at his size. Is the most fumbly player on our list. All that you could want from him in and onballer, Spp would already offer except better, less fumbles and more proven and Spp still can’t crack our on ball brigade. there’s just zero reason to think it’s worth developing jones there right at this moment.

If we’re talking about drew not playing, Spp spending another year in the forward line, it’s ludicrous to think jones has a shot.

Needs to work on being cleaner and breaking into our side as a defender next year. Could he play as a bullocking forward? Sure, tho why bother if we have actual forwards and all we’re doing is wasting a year or two of development into a player who should be developing in a position he will spend his career in.

To summarise,

Wines, boak , rozee , jhf, butters to be given the keys to our engine room with boak making way to the wings as often as success allows (the more time rozee, butters and jhf get on ball the better we will be in the future)

Imo, starting boak, wines, rozee at the start of games / start of qtrs and then shifting boak to the wing and sometimes hff as play opens, while jhf and butters rotate into there makes sense.

Bergman , duursma and Farrell on the wings, with faz and / or Bergman probably starting as a hbf / wing rotating option on the bench.

Drew an emergency / 1st cab off the rank whenever one of those on-ballers is injured / dropped, unless we’re really struggling for clearances or for any reason one or more of butters / boak / rozee / jhf are spending more time forward than anticipated.

Dumont and mead are depth.

Houston stays as the intercepting ball using hbf where he slices teams up.

Duursma needs to really be in form to hold his spot, but we really need to keep some running mids in the team for balance and if one of duursma , Bergman , Farrell comes out , or is playing almost solely as a defender a wingman needs to replace them, ie Bonner or sinn.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

If Drew isn't first 22 he really would make the ideal sub.

On SM-G975F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[PatientMental]

If Drew isn't first 22 he really would make the ideal sub.

On SM-G975F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Didnt work too well for us when we played him as a 2nd sub in the prelim final